IDC Asia/Pacific Enterprise Cloud Conference 2017 Outlines the Next Steps Moving into a Multi-Cloud Environment in 2018

**SINGAPORE, August 25^th ** , 2017 – Digital transformation in business raises user expectations of IT. It is also the driver for multi-cloud infrastructures. Enterprise IT is expected to offer services and capabilities that span business functions and roles, and demand a variability in IT resources which is very different to that of legacy, dedicated IT.

At the Asia/Pacific Enterprise Cloud Conference 2017 , held in Singapore at the Mandarin Oriental on 17^th August, William Lee, Associate Director for IDC Asia/Pacific’s Cloud Services Research Program, discussed the changes in the Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) cloud scenario as we move into multi-cloud environment in 2018.

Figure 1: In 2018, IDC predicts that more than 60% of enterprise IT organizations will have committed to multi-cloud architectures, driving up the rate and pace of change in IT organizations.

Lee also gave the audience a closer look at the future of Cloud 2.0 and the new market opportunities that come along with it. Lee explains that “In the cloud 2.0 era, cloud service buyers will be increasingly drawn from the ranks of business managers rather than from IT managers. The impact of this on the enterprise will be broad: decisions will be based on business requirements rather than technology platforms and much of the funding will be from the business units. For the LOB manager seeking business innovation, cloud 2.0 will bring a range of new, industry-focused services and partners from which to choose."

The resulting technology-driven business market will mean that more than 70% of Asia Pacific enterprises will have a multi-cloud strategy by 2018, and the need for efficient management of the new multi-cloud environment will mean that 65% of those with a multi-cloud strategy will seek management solutions from external providers to meet the complexities of managing cloud 2.0 environments.

“By 2018, at least 40% of IT Spending will be cloud-based; reaching over 50% of All IT infrastructure, software, services, and technology spending by 2020,” ends Lee.

The Asia/Pacific Enterprise Cloud Conference 2017 brought together more than 95 delegates across verticals in Singapore. The event is aimed at helping technology leaders plan their IT strategy in advance, so that they can start or continue their cloud journey. To do so, IT leaders must have an appropriate enterprise infrastructure strategy and architecture in place, which has: cloud; SDN and storage; integrated infrastructure; and security as the core elements. It is the right combination of these elements which will determine the ability of IT leaders to drive transformation for a mobile intensive, data driven, competitive business environment.

The Asia/Pacific Enterprise Cloud Conference 2017 was organized by IDC Asia/Pacific in partnership with the sponsors: Huawei; Darktrace; Nimble Storage; Riverbed, IBM and Symphony Summit.